Western Middle Students were searching for answers about the disease Wednesday with an expert from a local hospital.

Students learned about the type of cancer that affects their age group the most -- leukemia.

It all started with a book about a middle schooler whose little brother gets diagnosed with leukemia. It's gotten a big reaction, and now the entire student body is involved with the fight against cancer.

"I personally had never heard of leukemia before, so it was really tough listening to," said seventh-grader Angelica Rios.

Teachers at Western Middle required a book on the topic of cancer as a school-wide read.

"It was all about a family and their kid that had Leukemia and they talk about how they deal with each situation," said Lazara Delanuec.

The book is called "Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie."

Every student, teacher, administrator and parent was asked to read it.

Afterwards, the kids had a lot of questions about what happened to the characters.

So the school called in an expert, Dr. Cesar Rodriguez, a hematologist at the Brown Cancer Center in Louisville.

"They've asked me to come and talk about all the questions they've come up with regarding leukemia and how it affects kids and how it potentially could affect them," said Rodriguez.

After telling the kids what his job is, Rodriguez showed them a real bone, explained what bone marrow is and talked about Leukemia.

There was no lack of hands being raised.

"It was really about the bones, it's difficult to understand how the bones get this sort of sickness," said seventh-grader Skylar Weedman.

As the No. 1 cancer affecting kids under the age of 20, school leaders and Rodriguez said it's extremely important for students to know about the disease because it's their age group that's being affected.

"It makes you sad so people just want to help them so we can all try to find a cure for cancer," said Weedman.

The students are going to be raising Pennies For Patients. It's a program that fund research to finding a cure for cancer.

The money from the Pennies For Patients competition will go to the National Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The students are also hoping to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House and St. Jude Hospital.